Because It's the Year of the Rat!
by The Night Owl is Addicted
Summary: Kirihara comes to school wearing mouse ears and he's also brought a... wait, is that a talking rat? Happy Chinese New Year to those who celebrate it!


a/n: Happy Chinese New Year?... Okay, fine. I admit, I'm not Chinese… so what?

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any of the characters that appear in this fic.

**Because it's the Year of the Rat!**

* * *

"_Kyah!! So Cute!"_

Choruses of exclamations that were similar to the one heard just now were echoing throughout the campus of Rikkai Dai…

"Oh my gosh! Are those mouse ears?! It's so cute on you!"

"You're right! So adorable!"

But after a few loud cries of adoration, a new shout arose…

"Iyyyaaahhh! What IS that?! Disgusting!"

"Oh my… It's a… It's a… faints"

"Ewww! Get that away from me!"

The Rikkai Dai tennis club regulars looked at each other in bewilderment. Well, at least almost all of the regulars… a certain ace was missing from the group lounging inside the clubroom.

Why weren't they practicing? Well they just don't have to today, and they just felt like hanging around the clubroom…. Yes, even Sanada… What? Can't he have a break from slapping people every once in a while? Slapping people could be a very taxing job indeed.

"Waahhh! Who's that cute boy with the mouse ears? He's so charmiiiiIIIEEEEEWWW! Oh my God, what on earth is he holding?!"

More similar screams could be heard.

To their amusement, the sounds seemed to be getting louder and louder. It was as if the cause of the excitement was nearing the place where they were.

"Hey, Buchou, is it just me or is the commotion outside getting wilder and wilder by the minute." Niou drawled out, he was lying down on a bench while playing with a game console.

"Who knows?" Yukimura answered, smile in place. He was trying to peacefully read a book

"(Pop) Yeah, I wonder what's going on… (chew chew)And first they'd start cooing about something really cute with mouse ears, then (pop) they would scream out as if they saw something gross like…like…" Marui chewed while thinking of something appropriate to give as an example.

"M-mouse." Jackal said in a strained voice, almost choking.

"Yeah! A rat! Something gross like a – A RAT!!" Marui suddenly yelled, gum flying out of his mouth.

"Aaahhhh!" Jackal and Marui screamed, horror evident in their faces as they saw a white rat with violet eyes staring back at them.

At the background, Niou was laughing his head off at the look Jackal and Marui had, while Yukimura was still smiling serenely. The others tried to keep a straight face.

"Gee, Marui-senpai, Jackal-senpai, you didn't have to scream that loud." Kirihara complained. With one hand he rubbed his poor ear, with the other he held a cage, home to what else but… _the rat._

"What on earth are you doing with a rat, Kirihara!" Marui pointed a finger at his junior.

"Kirihara! You should be doing laps right now for causing too much commotion!" Sanada bellowed out

"Happy Year of the Rat!" Kirihara cheered, ignoring his seniors.

"So that explains the rat and the mouse ears." Yanagi pointed out.

Kirihara grinned, showcasing off the mouse ears that were cutely perched on his head.

"They look cute on you Akaya." Yukimura smiled fondly at the sophomore.

"Thanks Buchou!" Kirihara grinned even wider. "And look! I even have a pair for you!"

He attached a pair of mouse ears (that magically appeared from nowhere) on the smiling Yukimura.

The blue-haired tennis captain patted the boy's head. "Happy Year of the Rat, Akaya."

"Do you like it, buchou? Huh, do you? Do you?" he asked expectantly.

"Of course." Yukimura replied, ruffling his junior's hair even more.

"Yeay!" Kirihara expressed his happiness as he embraced his captain.

"Wait… I thought it was the Chinese who celebrated things like that." Niou said.

"Yes, the Chinese will be celebrating their New Year today, this year being the one of the rat, the first animal to finish the race in the legend." Yagyuu explained.

"Ooohhh… so why are _we_ celebrating it?" Niou asked.

Yagyuu shrugged (in a totally gentlemanly way, of course), "I'm not sure."

"This is stupid! (chew chew)" Marui exclaimed while chewing on a new piece of gum, "And take that stupid rat away, Kirihara! Why did you even bring that here?!"

"Pets aren't allowed at school." Sanada reprimanded the boy.

"B-but… it's the year of the rat…" Kirihara pouted.

Yukimura tried to placate the second-year. "Now, now, it's alright, Akaya... Genichirou, don't be mean."

"B-but…" Sanada tried to reason out but _no one_ could defy Yukimura's words. So he opted for glaring at the ace, who in turn was sticking out his tongue at the vice-captain.

"Why _did_ you bring a rat to school?" Yanagi asked.

"Because it's the year of the rat?" Kirihara tried to reason.

"Che, brat, is that all you can say?" Niou said.

"And where did you get that?" Jackal asked.

Kirihara looked a bit guilty, "…outside?..."

"You just grabbed some filthy rat you saw out on the streets! Gross!" Marui looked disgustedly at the creature.

"Who you calling filthy?!" they heard a voice say.

Marui looked around for the source of the voice. "Huh? Who said that?"

Kirihara grinned, holding out the rat cage.

"The rat?" Yagyuu asked, dumbfounded.

Kirihara nodded, and then a smug smile formed on his face, "That's why I took him."

Yukimura chuckled.

The others gaped, gazes shifting from Kirihara to the rat then back to the boy.

"What are you idiots staring at." The rat glared at them.

_Glared…_ the rat _glared_…

Screams erupted.

Well, Niou, Marui, Jackal and Yanagi screamed. Kirihara and Yukimura stayed smiling, Yagyuu was too much of a gentleman to scream, and Sanada was too much of a rock to react.

"Stop screaming!" the rat ordered, "And you, the kid who's holding the cage, release me."

"Akaya, where did you exactly find this… rat?" Yukimura asked, disregarding the mouse that was beginning to get pissed off.

"Well, I was out buying these mouse ears at the store when I saw it. It looked pretty lost, Buchou, so I went to see if it had a collar or something. And then when I approached it, it talked to me." Kirihara explained as if it was just an everyday life experience.

"The rat talked to you and you didn't have any reaction?" Jackal asked once he began to relax.

"I did! I said 'Cool! Buchou should definitely see this!'" Kirihara answered.

"So you decided to put it in a cage and bring it to school." Yanagi stated.

"Well, at first I was just going to carry it but it kept fighting back so I got a cage and then I brought it to school." And as if proving Akaya's point, the rat began rattling the cage.

"Let. Me. Go!" the mouse tried again.

"Maybe someone owns that rat and the owner might be looking for it." Yagyuu told them.

"That's right. Akaya, maybe you shouldn't have picked up that… animal… after all, you don't know where it came from. It might have rabies." Yukimura said.

"Hey! I do not have rabies!" said the rat.

"But, Buchou… It talks! And it's the year of the rat, so it might be some kind of lucky charm thingy." Kirihara whined.

Yukimura resumed to patting the boy's head, "Maybe. But the point is someone might be looking for it. Why don't we try asking the rat?"

Kirihara could do nothing but follow Yukimura. "Oh, all right…"

The blue-haired teen smiled at him. "That's a good boy."

But before they could ask anyone anything, they heard shrieking from the outside.

"Kya! Who's that cute guy!"

"Hey, old man, aren't you lost?!"

"He's not old, he just bleached his hair, isn't it _so_ obvious! And he's so handsome and cool!"

"Did you see a kid here holding a white rat?" The old-looking cool guy asked in a monotone voice.

"A white rat? I don't think so."

"Wait, didn't Kirihara-kun pass by a while ago holding a cage with a rat?"

"Yeah, the rat was so gross, but Kirihara-kun was really cute with those mouse ears on!"

"True, true! Too bad he was in such a hurry to show it to Yukimura-san. I wanted to ogle at him some more."

"But the rat totally destroys his image."

Bleached hair guy was beginning to get bored listening to them, "Where did he go?"

"Who, Kirihara-kun? Over at the tennis courts, where else?" a person said like it was the most obvious thing in the world, which in a way it actually is.

"Where are the tennis courts?"

"There." A person vaguely said.

"Can someone please point to where it is?"

"There." Said person pointed behind him, but he was still vague.

Bleached hair guy had an evil aura surrounding him. He grabbed the person by the collar of his uniform, "Listen here, Idiot. If you want to live, you're going to properly tell me where the tennis courts are."

Person gulped, "Uh, uh, Sure! I'll even escort you there!" He scurried off to the courts.

"See," Niou said, addressing Kirihara, "Someone really was looking for that rat."

"Awww… I wanted to keep it… Buchou can't I keep the rat? I found it!" Kirihara pleaded.

"I'm sorry Akaya, you can't. Someone already owns it and I'm sure he'd want it back." Yukimura said.

Sure enough the door opened with a bang.

"Yuki!" the guy shouted as he came in.

"What took you so long!" the rat yelled.

The guy looked sheepish, "I… got lost."

"Hey, how are we going to be sure that that guy is really the owner of the talking rat." Niou whispered to Yagyuu.

"Well, they seem to know each other." Yagyuu answered.

"Oh yeah." Niou nodded. "Okay."

"Whatever, just get me out of this cage!" Yuki, the rat said. "And, Haru, where are my clothes?"

"Um… I think they're back at the store." Haru said.

"You left it there?!" Yuki said incredulously.

"Don't worry; it's not as if you'll be changing back any time soon!" Haru said while smiling.

Yuki glared, "Stupid Zodiac. Stupid curse, making me change for no reason at all…" he mumbled to himself.

"Huh?" Kirihara tipped his head to one side, looking innocent.

"Hahaha! Nothing, just my pet rat rambling about weird things." Haru said as he took the cage from Kirihara.

They were about to leave when they were stopped by Yukimura.

"Wait, if you don't mind my asking…How could that rat talk?" he asked, which earned a collective nod from the group.

"Uh, he… um, Yuki is some magical talking rat! Yeah, that's it!" Haru tried.

"How are we supposed to believe that?" Sanada looked annoyed at the person who suddenly barged into their clubroom almost wrecking their precious tennis club door.

Haru sighed. With a serious expression, he said "Oh well, if you really want to know... The truth is Yuki's really a human. Our family is cursed to change into a Zodiac animal, which for Yuki happens to be the rat, whenever he/she gets hugged by the opposite sex… And now that you people know, we have to erase your memories."

Niou scoffed. "Yeah, right. Like we're supposed to fall for that."

"That is pretty unbelievable." Yagyuu added.

"I'm an experimental toy." Yuki said.

"Aha! You probably just didn't want us to know about that product before it goes out into the market!" Marui accused Haru.

"Sure, we'll go with that." Haru said.

"Don't worry we won't tell anyone about that new toy." Jackal assured Haru.

"…Thanks?..." Haru said, not knowing what else to say.

"Can we go now?" Yuki impatiently asked.

"Sure." Yanagi said.

Haru waved them goodbye before leaving.

"So…" Yanagi started.

"So…" some echoed.

"Happy Chinese New Year!" Kirihara cheered to Yukimura. Both looking really cute with mouse ears still on their head.

"Happy Year of the Rat, Akaya." Yukimura answered while smiling.

* * *

a/n: I think this would have been totally random if not for the Chinese New Year theme… Oh well… Yeay Yuki! For those who didn't know, Yuki and Haru are both characters from Fruits Basket.

Reviews would be nice to receive.


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